China’s second Belt and Road Forum in late April brought with it a few innovations. Apparently keen to regain some goodwill, China announced modifications to the multibillion-dollar infrastructure initiative. This includes a closer collaboration with multilateral financial institutions, giving potential projects a more stringent approval procedure.

In addition, China has agreed to set up a mediation panel in cooperation with Singapore, presumably to move away from China-centric dispute settlement mechanisms.

This is clearly a reaction to recent backlashes against the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), many of which occurred in Southeast Asian countries. Both Thailand and Indonesia have noticeably limited Chinese involvement in their national railway infrastructure over the past five years. In the past year, Malaysia has successfully countered the perceived Chinese “debt-trap diplomacy” by renegotiating the East Coast Rail Link project, and recently agreed to the project at two-thirds of the original price.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.